THIRD PERSON

Any semblance of movement was abruptly shaken away from Galant's limbs. His eyes trained on the lying figure across the room as a pit formed in his stomach.

"Inu!" Galant found himself yelling at the top of his lungs, lunging forward to reach the fallen Infernape. The bladed Pokemon didn't know what else to do than stay beside the actively bleeding ape. "Inu...Inu...!"

The Umbreon still outside the room had to shake the shock out of his body and turn to begin yelling for a certain name. "Hydra!" He called out.

From the other side of the hallway rushed over a concerned Blaziken. "The fuck is going on?"

"Get Hydra here, please! I don't care what you think of him, just bring him!" Vanta ordered.

Zantai didn't bother to question him after the desperation in the canine's voice explained everything. He turned to bolt out of the living room and down a long hallway. After reaching the top of the turning stairs he was greeted by a taller jackal.

"I'm aware I'm needed, please take me there." Hydra exhaled after notably shifting some equipment he brought in a white bag.

The Blaziken didn't respond—at least not with words—and turned to run back down the stairs. Both he and Hydra quickly made their way down the hall and rushed to the corner to meet Vanta.

"Inu is severely injured in there...I don't know the status yet, but Galant might." The audibly stressed Umbreon motioned to the room next to him.

ZANTAI'S POV

After Vanta's warning, Hydra darted past me to immediately enter the room. Unlike him, I had to physically psych myself up before entering—seems like my brain automatically assumed the worst.

All my worries were proved correct the moment I stepped foot inside, the ungodly sight greeting me before the horrid smell of putrid blood.

Inu's body was sprawled around the large bed, the blood stains draining down the mattress and pooling on the ground below the bed. Galant was leaning over and holding her hand, and for a moment it looked like the Infernape was squeezing back...but her flame only grew weaker as he emotionally called for her to stay awake.

From what I could see, Inu's major wounds are on her back. Her chest is fine, but something is preventing her from speaking. I walked around the bed to get a closer look...and the sight shocked me.

There was a clean slice on her throat, barely not deep enough to instantly kill her, but deep enough to bleed and suffer from the wound.

Hydra did the best he could with a combination of his healing aura and actively patching the wound with his cotton-like equipment...but Inu's state was worsening.

"Turn her over!" The tall Lucario commanded as he managed to wrap her throat in a blood-soaked rag.

After Galant gently rotated the ape on her stomach, he was quick to take a step back.

"W-What the fuck, man..." I stammered under my breath. Her entire back was coated in stab wounds. I could literally see parts of her fucking spine!

This can't be real, this can't be real. I'm in a nightmare.

"I-I...shit." Hydra muttered under his breath and attempted to pressure the major cuts with dressings and gauze. From what I can tell, his main starting point of medical attention is cleaning the wound and using a healing aura to help the rags he places...but cleaning Inu's back currently looks like a nightmare. "Galant..."

"Inu..!" The Gallade was already at the foot of the bed. "Listen to me, stay awake, okay?" He was desperately whispering to the girl, the bladed Pokemon's body knelt to properly face her. "Hey, hey..!"

"Galant, I..." Hydra muttered. "I can't do this. She's lost too much blood." 

"W-What..?" Galant seemed to shudder at the jackal's words. Only now had he realized that the Infernape he was talking to had already lost her life. The fire that had once coated her head had now succumbed to nothing but a small ember.

After a few seconds of processing her death, an audible chime sounded.

"A body has been discovered. Everyone, please gather in Inu and Laker's room." Sammy's voice reverberated around the mansion. It looked like she was the one doing the announcement today.

"Fuck..." I hissed under my breath. I didn't expect another murder to happen. More importantly, this looked recent...the culprit could be anywhere.

The first thing I did was run over to swing open the closet. Inside looked to be nothing but some hangers and towels.

"Vanta..." I muttered out to the Umbreon. "How the hell did this happen?"

"I-I don't know..." He shook his head. "I was just talking to her through the door!"

Even Vanta seemed shocked about this. Part of me believes him, but the other half believes there's a lot more to this story.

THIRD PERSON

It didn't take long for everyone to gather in the specified room. The approach was less of a ruckus and more silent with mourning included. No one dared to question what happened, they merely stared ahead as Hydra respectfully slid the Infernape's eyes closed. The taller jackal stood up straight to clear his throat and turned to the group.

"There has been a murder. As regulated, I am only allowed to provide you all with an autopsy." Hydra mentioned as he slipped out a large clipboard from his bag. After a few seconds of needed focus—and eyeing the Infernape's corpse—the taller Lucario managed to write down his review. "The fatal blow was the slice on her throat. Inu was also immobilized from blood loss—which was the final say in her life."

"This is awful..." Grace whimpered between multiple Pokemon in the crowd.

"Wait, so this was recent?" Laker narrowed his eyes at Hydra. "You're telling me whoever isn't with us right now could be it?"

After earning a small shrug from the tall Lucario, Laker immediately leaped into the room to analyze each person behind him. His eyes only needed to scroll briefly across them all—after all, he's been here long enough to memorize every one.

Leon was leaning against a wall, his eyes sadly locked onto the fire ape's dead body. Beside him was Vanta, who was still completely taken aback by the situation that struck him in the face. An expression like that was completely out of character for him.

Behind those two were Grace and Rayne, who had polar opposite expressions. Rayne was on her haunches and glaring at the closet with an unimpressed look, while the Eevee beside her was frozen in horror at the gory sight in front of her.

Finally, the quieter ones were Aubra and Luster. The Luxray seemed to be attempting to comfort her, a gentle paw placed on the back of her head. Aubra was on the verge of tears, her eyes glued to the ground.

"I feel like I can exempt you all." The Weavile crossed his arms and turned to get a closer look at Inu. His eyes couldn't focus on her without turning to Galant. He was still on his knees gazing sadly at the Infernape.

"It is not your fault, Galant." Leon stepped in from behind him and bent down to his level. "You must keep your strength for the trial."

"...yeah..." A small sniffle was all the Gallade needed to nod and be back up on his feet. "You're probably right..."

"Thank you." Leon offered him a weak smile and cleared his throat. "Hydra." He called.

"Yes?" The taller jackal turned to face him.

"Is there nothing else you are allowed to say?"

Hydra could only shake his head in response. "The answer is no—even if I did know more."

"I see." Leon rubbed a paw against his temple. "Then we have a lot of work to do."

GRACE'S POV

"Inu's dead..." I muttered to myself repeatedly. The idea was mind-boggling.

The only thing I could do was leave and clear my mind by walking around in the gym. Luckily, things were rather silent up here.

Considering how recent the body looked, whoever the culprit is they're probably downstairs by now.

"No matter..." I exhaled and carried forward. At the end of the court were two large opened doors—it almost seemed as if someone had entered.

My curiosity peaked as I stepped inside to find a bright light switching on. Admittedly, I flinched, but this new sight allowed me to see the vast hallway ahead of me.

The sheer size made me feel minuscule, I couldn't even begin to think of which door to start with. The only thing that caught my eye was a pair of doors different from the rest. Most doors were constructed with a type of metal, but these doors seemed to be made of wood.

After approaching the entrance, I craned my head to notice the different door knob—which appeared to have a handle. This would mean I can open them if I could just reach them...

I took a deep breath and leaped into the air, letting my paws hook around the bar and feel a loud click. I fell on all fours and noticed I had opened the door.

It was dark at first, but the moment I stepped into the room I realized this room also had the same motion trigger to switch the lights. The lighting in this room was very warm, luckily a nice change of pace from the fluorescent lights in the hall behind me.

Only now have I realized no one has been here before. Inside was a very organized library, the interior giving me a harsh whiplash from the hotel-like atmosphere in the mansion's living room.

What is this place for? And why are there so many books here? What could these be for?

Curiously, I leaped up on a nearby table to scroll the edge of my claw against the book covers. Each of them was completely untitled and with no author. After yanking one out from the shelf, I was quick to notice something written in the center of the book cover.

Well, whatever it is I can't read it. Visually, it's just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo.

I slid a paw against the edge to open the book, quickly realizing that something was off. It only took a few flips on the paper to notice each page was entirely identical to the other. Actually, it was even worse than that...it didn't even tell a story. It was almost as if it was telling something to me directly.

"...no one was found after that incident. Investigators believe the two were murdered by the __ killer. The __ killer is known to be a female and is a dangerous serial killer known by the markings she leaves after a crime. The reason for her name is due to each victim having a—"

That's strange...this almost seems like a news report. Even more weird is the fact that the killer's title is blank. Did someone censor this? Or did Sam not want us to know? None of this makes sense...

"Do you read a lot?" A voice behind me sounded, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin.

I turned to see Sammy with her arms crossed. She had a pair of red glasses on, which made it quite easy to differentiate her from Sam—aside from their different eye colors.

"U-Uhm...I'm more of a writer myself." I chuckled, trailing my paws against the wood until I wrapped it around a pen.

"I see." She sighed and shut the door behind her. The Braixen paced across the room to pull a blue book off the shelf. "Do you know what you just read?"

"Erm...not really." I answered honestly.

"To be blunt, you've found the next motive." Sammy cleared her throat and calmly walked up to me, book in hand. She didn't give me time to process her words as she was quick to drop the blue book on the table in front of me.

"W-What?" I stammered and lowered my head to see. The title was the same pattern of unintelligible words. After opening the book, I began reading.

"...small little diary! I only really started writing a few months ago, but it's really fun! I'm glad I found something I could do...life was getting really rough without an escape. Mom and Dad don't seem interested in what I do, but that doesn't matter. Soon there will be nothing to care about anyway! But...that happens a little later."

What is this? What the hell is this!?

"I can see you're surprised..." Sammy muttered sadly at my expression.

"What...what the...why!?" I felt a stream of tears built up, but I just barely suppressed the urge to cry. Somehow, I knew exactly what this was. This was one of the first diary entries I've made...one of the entries I made before attempting to commit suicide.

"I'm sorry." The Braixen frowned with a pained look. "Each book has a...let's say a 'host'...attached to it. Only the host will get the memory attached to what's written, since it was made specifically with them in mind. This is your book, Grace."

"I..." I shuddered. I can't believe it...every single feeling I had while writing that entry had just washed over me like a wave. "Does this mean..?"

"I'm really sorry...but if you had any mental issues in the past...I'm afraid they have a chance to return after reading." She slipped her glasses off to offer me a gentle look.

"T-Then why the fuck did you make me read that!" I hissed, nearly doing a double take at my language. Why am I swearing? Have I always sworn?

"G-Grace...I had to. It was to save your life. Everyone who enters this library is forced to read an entry of their own...otherwise, they refuse the motive and are killed. Sam wasn't here to tell you all that rule, she's too busy handling...something." Sammy crossed her arms once again.

"Arceus..." I shook my head. "Can I leave now, then? I read it."

After she nodded, I immediately jumped off the table and made a strict march toward the exit. Not looking back, I leaped to the handle and forcefully shoved the door open as best as I could.

Everything is horrible. This is all horrible.

I should have done it when I had the chance.

GALANT'S POV

The investigation could be going better, but it could also be going worse. Inu had died right in front of me, and there wasn't a single thing I could do about it. Whoever the culprit was, they were efficient. It feels as if everything we discover could be a dud or something done on purpose.

Hydra dismissed himself after his autopsy. If only he was called earlier...maybe I should have run for him instead?

All we know is Inu was sliced in her throat and multiple times in her back, which caused her to bleed to death. We don't even know what the murder weapon is...or if it even was a weapon.

The room was dead silent. I almost miss how Inu used to interrupt and state her mind. She was honest, to say the least.

"Okay, so they definitely weren't in the room at the time." Vanta muttered to himself before turning his head to look up at me. "Galant was the first to enter, and I stayed outside the door. No one could be in the room at the time."

"Then how the hell did she die so recently?" Zantai crossed his arms, his eyes seemingly glued to Inu's corpse. It looks like just now he was processing her death.

"I don't know..." The Umbreon shook his head. "I was just talking to her a minute ago before Galant opened the door, the only thing that could have happened was..."

"That she killed herself?" Laker scoffed and sat down against the wall. "No fuckin' way. Inu would never..."

"Yeah, and you're her best friend, aren't you?" Zantai bluntly mocked the Weavile.

"Let's say she did." Leon started. "Then where is the weapon?"

"Here." Loki motioned to a cabinet we had opened a while ago. "Wasn't there a knife here?"

"Yeah, but...that knife is across the room, Loki." I frowned. "How would it have gotten there?"

"...so...it's up to how much we trust Galant and Vanta." Laker shrugged.

"What do you mean?" The Umbreon raised a brow.

"Well, I'm saying you had the option to move a couple of things while no one was looking." Laker pointed a claw at the two of us.

"Why the hell would we do that?" I quickly deflected.

A long sigh was all I heard from him before he clicked his tongue.

"Maybe because you both did it."